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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


Richard  Barksdale  Harwell 


r 


o~-  2^  -/t^x/: 


173.1 


uu.M^A 


X 


G^lrPi 


-<_, 


GiiSKlUL    McCLELLAN'S 


LETTER    OF    ACCEPTANCE, 


TOGETOER    WITH    HIS 


WEST-POINT    ORATION. 


GENERAL   McCLELLAM'S  LETTER   OF  ACCEPTANCE. 


Orange,  N,  J.,  Sept.  S,  1864. 

Gentlemen  :  I  have  the  honor  to  acknow- 
ledge the  receipt  of  your  letter  inforniing  me 
of  my  nomination  by  the  Democratic  National 
Convention,  recently  assembled  at  Chicago,  as 
their  candidate  at  the  next  election  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States. 

tt  is  unnecessary  for  me  'to  say  to  yon  that 
this  nomination  comes  to  me  unsought. 

I  am  happy  to  know  that  when  the  nomina- 
nation  was  made,  the  record  of  my  public  life 
was  kept  in  view.  • 

The  effect  of  long  and  varied  service  in  the 
army  during  war  and  peace  has  been  to  strength- 
en and  make  indelible  in  my  mind  and  heart 
the  love  and  reverence  for  the  Union,  Consti- 
tution, laws,  and  flag  of  our  country,  impressed 
upon  me  in  early  youth. 

These  feelings  have  thus  far  guided  the 
course  of  my  life,  and  must  continue  to  do  so 
to  its  end. 

The  existence  of  more  than  one  government 
over  the  region  which  once  owned  our  flag  is 
incompatible  with  the  peace,  the-  power,  and 
the  happiness  of  the  people. 


The  preservation  of  our  Union  was  the  sole 
avowed  object  for  which  the  war  was  com- 
menced. It  should  have  been  conducted  for 
that  object  only,  and  in  accordance  with  those 
principles  which  I  took  occasion  to  declare 
when  in  active  service. 

Thus  conducted,  the  work  of  reconciliation 
would  have  been  easy,  and  we  might  have 
reaped  the  benefits  of  our  many  victories  on 
land  and  sea. 

The  Union  was  originally  formed  by  the  ex- 
ercise of  a  spirit  of  conciliation  and  compro- 
mise. To  restore  and  preserve  it,  the  same 
spirit  must  prevail  in  our  councils,  and  in  the 
hearts  of  the  people. 

The  reestablishment  of  the  Union  in  all  its 
integrfty  is,  and  must  continue  to  be,  the  indis- 
pensable condition  in  any  settlement.  So  soon 
as  it  is  clear,  or  even  probable,  that  our  pres- 
ent adversaries  are  ready  for  peace,  upon  the 
basis  of  the  Union,  we  should  exhaust  all  the 
resources  of  statesmanship  practised  by  civil- 
ized nations,  and  taught  by  the  traditions  of 
the  American  people,  consistent  with  the  honor 
and  interests  of  the  country,   to  secure  such 


Published   by  E.  P.  PATTEN,  35  Park  Row,   New-York  City. 


peace,  reestablish  the  Union,  and  guarantee 
for  the  future  the  constitutional  rights  of  every 
State.  The  Union  is  the  one  condition  of 
peace  —  we  ask  no  more. 

Let  me  add  what  I  doubt  not  was,  althoujili 
unexpressed,  the  sentiment  of  the  Convention, 
as  it  is  of  the  people  they  represent,  that  when 
any  one  SUite  is  willing  to  return  to  the  Union, 
it  sfhould  be  received  at  once,  with  a  full  guar- 
antee of  all  its  constitutional  rights. 

II  a  frank,  earnest,  and  persistent  effort  to 
obtain  those  objects  should  fail,  the  responsi- 
bility for  ulterior  consequences  will  fall  upon 
those  who  remain  in  arms  against  the  Union. 
But  the  Union  must  be  preserved  at  all  haz- 
ards. 

I  could.not  look  in  the  face  my  gallant  com- 
rades of  the  army  and  navy,  who  have  survived 
so  many  bloody  battles,  and  tell  them  that  their 
labors  and  the  sacrifice  of  so  many  of  om-  slain 
and  wounded  brethren  had  been  in  vain  ;  that 
we  had  abandoned  that  Union  for  which  we 
have  so  often  perilled  our  lives. 

A  vast  majority  of  our  people,  whether  in 
the  army  and  navy  or  at  liomc,  would,  as  I 
would,  hail  with  unbounded  joy  the  perma- 
nent restoration  of  peace,  on  the  basis  of  the 
Union  under  the  Constitution,  without  the  ef- 
fusion of  another  drop  of  blood.  But  no  peace 
can  be  permanent  without  Union. 

As  to  the  other  subjects  presented  in  the 
resolutions  of  the  Convention,  I  need  only  say 
that  I  should  seek,  in  the  Constitution  of  the 


United  States  and  the  laws  framed  in  accord- 
ance therewith,  the  rule  of  my  duty  and  the 
limitations  of  executive  power ;  endeavor  to 
restore  economy  in  public  expenditure,  re- 
establish the  supremacy  of  law,  and,  by  the 
operation  of  a  more  vigorous  nationality,  re- 
surafe  our  commanding  position  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth. 

The  condition  of  our  finances,  the  depreci- 
ation of  our  paper  money,  and  the  burdens 
thereby  imposed  on  labor  and  capital,  show 
the  neces.sity  of  a  return  to  a  sound  financial 
s)'^stem  ;  while  the  rights  of  citizens  and  the 
rights  of  States,  and  the  binding  authority  of 
law  over  President,  anny,  and  people,  are  sub- 
jects of  not  less  vital  importance  in  war  than 
in  peace. 

Believing  that  the  views  here  expressed  are 
those  of  the  Convention  and  the  people  you 
represent,  I  accept  the  nomination. 

I  realize  the  weight  of  the  responsibility 
to  be  borne  should  the  people  ratify  your 
choice. 

Conscious  of  my  own  weakness,  T  can  only 
seek  fervently  the  guidance  of  the  Ruler  of  the 
universe,  and,  relying  on  His  all-powerful  aid, 
do  my  best  to  restore  Union  and  peace  to  a 
suffering  people,  and  to  establish  and  guard 
their  liberties  and  rights. 

I  au^  gentlemen,  very  respectfully, 
Yom-  obedient  servant, 

George  B.  MoCi.et.lan. 
Hon.  HoKATio  Seymouk,  and  others,  Committee. 


GENERAL    McCLELLAN'S 

ORATION   AT   WEST-POINT, 

f 

June  15th,  1864. 


All  nations  have  days  sacred  to  the  remem- 
brance of  joy  and  of  grief.  They  have  thanks- 
givings for  success ;  fasting  and  prayers  in  the 
hour  of  humiliation  and  defeat;  triumphs  and 
peans  to  greet  the  Hving  and  laurel  crowned  vic- 
tor. They  have  obsequies  and  eulogies  for  the 
warrior  slain  on  the  field  of  battle.  Such  is  the 
duty  we  are  to  perform  to-day.  The  poetry, 
the  histories,  the  orations  of  antiquity,  all  re- 
sound with  the  clang  of  at  ms ;  they  dwell 
rather  upon  rough  deeds  of  war  than  the  gentle 
arts  of  peace.  The3f  have  preserved  to  us  the 
names  of  heroes,  and  the  memory  of  their  deeds 
even  to  this  distant  day.  Our  own  Old  Testa- 
ment teems  with  the  narrations  of  the  brave 
actions  and  heroic  deaths  of  Jewish  patriots ; 
while  the  New  Testament  of  our  meek  and 
suffering  Saviour  often  selects  the  soldier  and 
his  weapons  to  typify  and  illustrate  religious 
heroism  and  duty.  These  stories  of  the  actions 
of  the  dead  have  frequently  survived,  in  the 
lapse  of  ages,  the  names  of  those  whose  fall  was 
thus  commemorated  centuries  ago.  But,  al- 
though we  know  not  now  the  names  of  all  the 
brave  men  who  fought  and  fell  upon  the  plain 
of  Marathon,  in  the  pass  of  Thermopylae,  and 
on  the  hills  of  Palestine,  we  have  not  lost  the 
memory  of  their  examples.  As  long  as  the 
warm  blood  courses  in  the  veins  of  man ;  as 
long  as  the  human  heart  beats  higJi  and  quick 
at  the.recital  of  brave  deeds  and  patriotic  sacri- 
fices, so  long  will  the  lesson  still  invite  gener- 
ous men  to  emulate  the-  heroism  of  the  past. 
Among  the  Greeks  it  was  the  custom  that  the 
fathers  of  the  most  valiant  of  the  slain  should 
pronounce  the  eulogies, of  the  dead.  Sometimes 
it  devolved  upon  their  great  statesmen  and 
orators  to  perform  this  mournful  duty.  Would 
that  a  new  Demosthenes,  or  a  second  Pericles 
could  arise  and  take  my  place  to-day,  for  he 
would  find  a  theme  worthy  of  his  most  brilliant 
powers,  of  his  most  touching  eloquence. 

I   stand  h'jre  now,   not  as  an  orator,  but  as 
a  whilom  commander,  and  in   the  place  of:  the 
fathers  of  the  most  valiant  dead ;  as  their  com 
rade,  too,  on  many  a  bard-fought  field  against 


domestic  and  foreign  foe  —  in  early  youth  and 
mature  manhood — moved  by  all  the  love  that 
David  felt  when  he  poured  forth  his  lamenta- 
tions for  the  mighty  father  and  son  who  fell  on 
Mount  Gilboa.  God  knows  that  David's  love 
for  Jonathan  was  no  more  deep  than  mine  for 
the  tried  friends  of  many  long  and  eventful 
years,  whose  names  are  to  be  recorded  upon  the 
structure  that  is  to  rise  upon  this  spot.  Would 
that  his  more  than  mortal  eloquence  could 
grace  my  lips  and  do  ju^ice  to  the  theme! 

We  have  met  to-day,  my  comrades,  to  do 
honor  to  our  own  dead — brothers  united  to  us 
by  the  closest  and  dearest  ties — who  have  freely 
given  their  lives  for  their  country  in  this  war — 
so  just  and  righteous,  so  long  as  its  purpose 
is  to  crush  rebellion  and  to  save  our  nation 
from  the  infinite  evils  of  dismemberment.  Such 
an  occasion  as  this  should  call  forth  the  deep 
est  and  noblest  emotions  of  our  nature — pride, 
sorrow,  and  prayer.  Pride,  that  our  country 
has  possessed  such  sons ;  sori'ow,  that  she  has 
lost  them ;  prayer,  that  she  may  have  others 
like  them ;  that  we  and  our  successors  may 
adorn  her  annals  as  they  have  done ;  and  that 
when  our  parting  hour  arrives,  whenever  and 
however  it  may  be,  our  souls  may  be  prepared 
for  the  great  change. 

THE    VOLUNTEERS. 

We  have  assembled  to  consecrate  a  ceno- 
toph  which  shall  remind  our  children's  child- 
ren in  the  distant  future  of  their  fathers' 
struggles  in  the  days  of  the  great  rebellion. 
This  monument  is  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
a  portion  only,  of  those  who  have  fallen  for  the 
nation  in  this  unhappy  war;  it  is  dedicated  to 
the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  regular  army. 
Yet  this  is  done  in  no  class  or  exclusive  spirit, 
and  in  the  act  we  remember  with  reverence  and 
love  our  comrades  of  the  volunteers  who  have 
so  gloriously  fought  and  fallen  by  our  sides. 

Each  Stiite  will,  no  doubt,  commemorate  in 
some  fitting  way  the  services  of  its  sons  who 
abandoned  the  avocations  of  peace  and  shed 
their  blood  in  the  ranlfs  of  the  volunteers.    How 


richly  they  have  oarm-d  a  nation's  love,  a  nation's 
gratitude.  Witli  \vhat  heroism  tliey  have  con- 
fronted death,  have  wrested  victory  from  a  stub- 
born foe,  and  have  illustrated  defeat,  it  well  be- 
comes me  to  say,  for  it  has  been  my  lot  to 
command  them  on  m;iny  a  sanjiuinary  field.  1 
know  tliat  I  but  echo  the  feeling  of  the  regulars 
when  1  award  the  high  credit  they  deserve  to 
their  brave  brethren  of  the  volunteers. 

But  we  of  the  regular  army  have  no  States  to 
look  to  for  the  honor  due  our  dead.  We  be- 
long to  the  whole  countr}',  and  can  neither 
expect  nor  desire  the  giyieral  government  to 
make  a  perhaps  invidions  distinction  in  our 
favor.  ^Ye  are  few  in  number,  a  small  band 
of  comrades,  united  by  peculiar  and  very  bind- 
ing tics.  For,  with  man)M)f  u.s,  our  friendships 
were  connnenced  in  boyhood,  when  we  rested 
here  in  the  shadow  of  the  granite  hills  which 
look  down  upon  us  where  we  stand ;  with 
others  the  ties  of  brotherhood  were  formed  in 
more  mature  yeans — while  fighting  among  the 
rugged  mountains  and  the  fertile  valleys  of  Mex- 
ico— within  hearing  of  the  eternal  waves  of  the 
Pacific — or  in  the  lonely  grandeur  of  the  great 
plains  of  the  far  West.  \Vith  all,  our  love  and 
confidence  have  been  cemented  by  common  dan- 
gers and  suflferings — on  the  toilsome  march,  in 
the  dreary  bivouac,  and  amid  the  clash  of  arms 
and  in  the  presence  oftfdcath  on  scoi-es  of  bat- 
tle-fields. West-Point,  with  her  large  heart, 
adopts  us  all — graduates,  and  those  appointed 
from  civil  life — officers  and  privates.  In  her 
eyes  we  are  all  her  children,  jealous  of  her 
fame  and  eager  to  sustain  her  world-wide  reputa- 
tion. Generals  and  private  soldiers,  men  who 
have  cheerfully  ofifered  our  all  for  our  dear 
country,  we  stand  here  before' this  shrine,  ever 
hereafter  sacred  to  our  dead,  equals  and 
brothers  in  the  presence  of  the  common  death 
which  awaits  us  all — perhaps  on  the  same  field 
and  at  the  same  hour.  Such  are  the  ties  which 
unite  us — the  most  endearing  which  exist  among 
men ;  such  the  relations  which  bind  us  together 
— the  closest  of  the  sacred  brotherhood  of  arms. 
It  has  therefore  seemed,  and  it  is  fitting,  that 
we  should  erect  upon  this  spot,  so  sacred  to  us 
all,  an  enduring  monument  to  our  dear  brothers 
who  have  preceded  us  on  the  path  of  peril  and 
of  honor  which  it  is  the  destiny  of  many  of  us 
to  tread. 

What  is  this  regular  army  to  which  we  be- 
long? 

Who  were  the  men  whose  death  merits  such 
honors  from  the  living  ? 

What  is  the  cause  for  which  they  have  laid 
down  their  lives  ? 

Our  regular  or  permanent  army  is  the  nucleus 
which  in  time  of  peace  preserves  the  military 
traditions  of  the  nation,  as  well  as  the  organiza- 
tion, science,  and  instruction  indispensable  to 
modern  armies.  It  may  be  regarded  as  coeval 
with  the  nation.  It  derives  its  odgin  from  the 
old  continental  and  State  lines  of  \he  Revolu- 
tion, whence,  with  some  interruptions  and  many 
changes,  it  has  attained  its  present  conditio.). 


In  fact,  wc  may  with  propriety  go  even  beyond 
the  Revolution  to  seek  the  roots  of  our  genea- 
lo'_dcal  tree  in  the  old  French  wars ;  for  the  cis- 
atlantic campaigns  of  the  seven  years'  war  were 
not  confined  to  the  "  red  men  scalping  each 
other  by  the  great  lakes  of  North-. America;" 
and  it  was  in  them  that  our  ancestors  first  par- 
ticipated as  Americans  in  the  large  operations 
of  civilized  armies.  American  regiments  then 
fought  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  liawrence  and 
the  Ohio,  on  the  shores  of  OntL;rio  ami  Lake 
George,  on  the  islands  of  the  Caribbean,  and  in 
South-America,  l.oui.sburg,  Quebec,  Duquesne, 
the  Moro,  and  Porto  Bello  a' test  the  value  of  the 
provincial  troops,  and  in  that  school  were  edu- 
cated such  soldiers  as  Washington,  ^utnam, 
Lee,  Montgomery,  and  Gates.  These,  and  men 
like  Greene,  Knox,  Wayne,  and  Steuben,  were 
the  fathers  of  our  permanent  army,  and  under 
them  our  troops  acquired  that  discipline  and 
steadiness  which  enabled  them  to  meet  upon 
equal  terms  and  often  to  defeat  the  tried  veteraiis 
of  England.  The  study  of  the  history  of  the 
Revolution  and  a  perusal  of  the  dispatches  of 
Washington,  will  convince  the  most  skeptical 
of  the  value  ofthe  permanent  army  in  achieving 
our  independence,  and  establishing  the  civil  edi- 
fice which  we  are  now  fighting  to  preserve. 
The  war  of  1812  found  the  army  on  a  footing 
far  from  adequate  to  the  ernergency,  but  it  was 
rapidly  increased,  and  of  the  new  generation 
of  soldiers,  many  proved  equal  to  the  rcquire- 
mesits  ofthe  occasion.  Lundy's  Lane,  Chippe- 
wa, Queenstown,  Plattsburgh,  New-Orleans,  all 
bear  witness  to  the  gallantry  of  the  regulars. 
Then  came  an  interval  of  more  than  thirty 
5'ears  of  external  peace,  marked  by  many 
changes  in  the  organization  and  strength  of  the 
regular  army,  and  broken  at  times  by  tedious 
and  bloody  Indian  wars.  Of  these  the  most 
remarkable  were  the  Black  Hawk  war,  in  which 
our  troops  met  unflinchingly  a  foe  as  relentless 
and  far  more  destructive  than  the  Indians — that 
terrible  scourge,  the  cholera— and  the  tedious 
Florida  war,  where,  for  so  many  years,  the  Sem- 
inoles  eluded  in  the  pestilential  swampu  our 
utmost  efforts,  and  in  which  were  displayed 
such  traits  of  heroism  as  that  commemorated  by 
yonder  monOment  to  Dade  and  his  command, 
when  "all  fell  save  two,  without  an  attempt  to 
retreat."  At  last  came  the  Mexican  war  to  re- 
place Indian  combats  and  the  monotoii}'  of  the 
frontier  service,  and  for  the  first  time  in  many 
years  the  mass  ofthe  regular  army  was  concen- 
trated, and  took  the  principal  part  in  the  bat- 
tles of  that  remarkable  and  romantic  war. 
Palo  Alto,  Resaca,  and  Fort  Brown  were  the 
achievements  of  the  regulars  unaided;  and  as 
to  the  battles  of  '^Monterey,  Buena  Yista,  Vera 
Cruz,  Cerro  Gordo,  and  the  final  triumphs  in 
the  valley,  none  can  trulj"^  say  that  they  could 
have  been  won  without  the  regulars.  When 
peace  crowned  our  victories  in  the  capital  ofthe 
Montezumas,  the  army  was  at  once  dispersed 
over  the  long  frontier,  and  engaged  in  harassing 
and  dangerous  wars  with  the  Indians   of  the 


plains.  Thus  thirteen  long  years  were  spent, 
until  the  present  war  broke  out,  and  the  mass 
of  the  army  was  drawn  in  to  be  employed 
against  a  domestic  foe. 

I  cannot  proceed  to  the  events  of  the  recent 
past  and  the  present  without  adverting  to  the 
gallant  men  who  were  so  long  of  our  number, 
but  who  have  now  gone  to  their  last  home ;  for 
no  small  portion  of  the  glory  of  which  we  boast 
was  reflected  fpom  such  men  as  Taylor,  Worth, 
Brady,  Brooks,  Totten,  and  Duncan. 

There  is  a  sad  story  of  Venetian  history  that 
has  moved  many  a  heart  and  often  employed 
the  poet's  pen  and  painter's  pencil.  It  is  of  an 
old  man  whose  long  lif^  was  gloriously  spent  in 
the  service  of  the  state  as  a  warrior  and  a 
statesmin,  and  who,  when  his  hair  was  white 
and  his  feeble  limbs  could  scarce  carry  his  bent 
form  toward  the  grave,  attained  the  highest 
honors  that  a  Venetian  citizen  could  reach. 

He  was  Doge  of  Venice.  Convicted  of  trea- 
son against  the  state,  he  not  only  lost  his  life 
but  suffered  besides  a  penalty  which  will  en- 
dure as  long  as' the  name  of  Venice  is  remem- 
bered. The  spot  where  his  portrait  should 
have  hung  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Doge's  pal- 
ace was  veiled  with  black,  and  there  still  re- 
mains the  frame  with  its  black  mass  of  canvas ; 
and  this  vacant  frame  is  the  most  conspicuous 
in  the  long  line  of  eflfigies  of  illustrious  Doges ! 
Oh  !  that  such  a  pall  as  that  which  replaces  the 
portrait  of  Marino  Faliero  could  conceal  from 
history  the  names  of  those,  once  our  comrades. 


who  are  now  in  arms 


agamst 


the  flag  under 


which  we  fought  side  by  side  in  years  gone  by. 
But  no  vail  can  cover  the  anguish  that  fills  our 
hearts  when  we  look  back  u[)on  the  sad  mem- 
ory of  the  past,  and  recall  the  aff'ection  and 
respect  we  entertained  toward  men  against 
whom  it  is  our  duty  to  act  in  mortal  combat. 
Would  that  the  courage,  abilit)',  and  steadfast- 
ness they  displaj''  had  been  employed  in  the 
defence  of  the  "Stars  and  Stripes"  against  a 
foreign  foe,  rather  than  in  this  gratuitous  and 
unjustifiable  rebellion,  which  could  not  be  so 
long  maintained  but  for  the  skill  and  energ}' 
of  these  our  former  comrades. 

GENERAL    SCOTT. 

But  we  have  reason  to  rejoice  that  upon  this 
day,  so  sacred  and  so  eventful  for  us,  one  grand 
old  mortal  monumeat  of  the  past  still  lifts 
high  his  head  amongst  us,  and  graces  by  his 
presence  the  consecration  of  this  tomb  of  his 
children.  We  may  well  be  proud  that  we  have 
been  commanded  by  the  hero  who  purchased  vic- 
tory with  his  blood  near  the  gieat  waters  of  Nia- 
gara ;  who  rej^eated  and  eclipsed  the  achieve- 
ments of  Cortes;  who,  although  a  consummate 
and  confident  commander,  ever  preferred,  when 
duty  and  honor  would  permit,  the  olive  branc'n 
of  peace  to  the  blood-stained  laurels  of  war ; 
and  who  stand^;  at  the  close  of  a  long,  glorious, 
and  eveatful  life,  a  living  column  of  granite, 
against  which  have  beaten  in  vain  alike  the 
blandishments    and   storms   of   treason.      His 


name  will  ever  be  one  of  our  proudest  boasts 
and  most  moving  inspirations. 

In  long  distant  ages,  when  this  incipient 
monument  has  become  venerable,  mos.';-clad, 
and  perhaps  ruinous  ;  when  the  names  inscrib- 
ed upon  it  shall  seem  to  those  who  pause  to 
read  them  indistinct  momentoes  of  an  almost 
mythical  past,  the  name  of  Winfield  Scott  will 
still  be  clear  cut  upon  tl^  memory  of  them  all, 
like  the  still  fresh  carving  upon  the  monuments 
of  long-forgotten  Phartiohs. 

THE    REGULAR    ARMY    IN    THE    PRESENT    WAR. 

But  it  is  time  to  approach  the  present.     In  the 
war  which  now  shakes  the  land  to  its  foundation 
the  regular  army  has  borne  a  most  honorable 
part.     Too  few  in  numbers  to  act  by  themselves, 
regular  regiments  have   participated  in   every 
great  battle  in  the  east,  and  in  most  of  those 
west  of  the  AUeghanies.     Their  terrible  losses 
and  diminished  numbers  prove  that  they  have 
been  in  the  thickest  of  the  fights,  and  the  testi- 
mony of  their  comrades  and  commanders  shows 
with  what  undaunted  heroism  they  have  upheld 
their  ancient  renown.     Their  vigorous  charges 
have  often  won  the  day,  and  in  defeat  they  have 
more  than  once  saved  the  armj"-  from  destruc- 
tion or  terrible  losses  by  the  obstinacy  with 
which   they   resisted    overpowering    numbers. 
They   can  refer  with   pride   to  the  part  they 
played  upon  the  glorious  fields  of  Mexico,  and 
exult  at  the  recollection  of  what  they  did  at 
Manassas,    Gaines's    Mill,    Malvern,    Antietam, 
Shiloh,    Stone    River,    Getty sburgh,    and    the 
great    battles  just    fought   from    the   Rapidan 
to  the   Chickahominy.      They   can  also  point 
to  the  ofiicers  who  have  risen  among  them  and 
achieved  great  deeds  for  their  country  in  this 
war,   to  the  living  warriors  whose  names  are 
on  the  nation's  tongue  and  heart,  too  numer- 
ous to  be  repeated  here,  yet  not  one  of  whom  I 
could  willingly  omit.     But  perhaps  the  proud- 
est episode  in  the  history  of  the  regular  army  is 
that  touching  instance  of  fidelity  on  the  part  of 
the  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates,  who, 
treacherouiily  made  prisoners  in  Texas,  resisted 
every  temptation  to  violate  their  oath  and  de- 
sert their  flag.     Offered  commissions  in  the  rebel 
service,  money  and  land  freely  tendered  them, 
they  all  scorned  the  inducements  held  out  to 
them,  submitted  to  every  hardship,  and,  when 
at  last  exchanged,  avenged  themselves  on  the 
field  of  battle  for  the  unavailing  insult  offered 
their   integrity.     History   affords   no    brighter 
example  of  honor   than  that  of  these    brave 
men,  tempted,  as  I  blush  to  say  they  were,  by 
some  of  their  former  officers,  who,  having  them- 
selves proved  false  to  their  flag,  endeavored  to 
seduce  the  men  who  had  often  followed  them  in 
combat,  and  who  had  naturally  regarded  them 
with  respect  and  love. 

Such  is  the  regular  army;  such  its  history 


and  antecedents ;  such  its  officers  and  men. 
It  needs  no  herald  to  trumpet  forth  its  praises. 
It  can  proudly  appeal  to  the  numerous  fields 
from  the  tropics  to  the  frozen  banks  of  the  St. 


LawTence ;  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  fer- 
tilizrd  by  the  blood,  and  whitened  by  the  Itonos, 
o(  its  uienibers.  But  T  will  not  pause  to  eulo- 
gize it ;  4ct  its  deeds  speak  for  it ;  they  are  more 
eloquent  than  tongue  of  mine. 

THE    DEAD    OF   THE    BEGCLAR    AlOtV. 

AVhy  arc  we  hereto-day?  This  is  not  the 
funeral  of  one  brave  warrior,  nor  even  of  the 
harvest  of  death  on  at  sinjrle  battle-field  ;  but 
these  are  the  obsequies  of  the  best  and  bravest 
of  the  children  of  the  land,  who  have  fallen 
in  actions  altnost  numberless,  mnny  of  them 
amon<»  the  most  sanp:uinary  and  desperate  of 
which  history  bears  record.  The  men  whose 
names  and  deeds  we  now  seek  to  perpetuate, 
rendering  them  the  highest  honor  in  our  power, 
have  fallen  wherever  armed  rebellion  showed 
its  front,  in  far-distant  New-Mexico,  in  the 
broad  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  on  the  bloody 
hunting-grounds  of  Kentucky,  in  the  mountains 
of  Tennessee,  amid  the  swamps  of  Carolina,  on 
the  fertile  fields  of  Maryland,  and  in  the  blood- 
stained thickets  of  Virginia.  They  were  of  all 
grades,  from  the  general  officer  to  the  private  ; 
of  all  ages,  from  the  gi-ay-haired  veteran  of  fifty 
years'  service  to  the  beardless  youth;  of  all 
degrees  of  cultivation,  from  the  man  of  science 
to  the  uneducated  boy.  It  is  not  necessary, 
nor  is  it  possible,  to  repeat  the  mournful  yet 
illustrious  roll  of  dead  heroes  whom  we  have 
met  to  honor,  nor  shall  I  attempt  to  name  all 
of  those  who  most  merit  praise;  simply  a  few 
who  will  exemplify  the  classes  to  which  they 
belong. 

Among  the  last  slain,  but  among  the  fir.st  in 
honor  and  reputation,  was  that  hero  of  twenty 
battles,  John  Sedgwick.  Gentle  and  kind  as  a 
woman  ;  brave  as  a  brave  man  can  be ;  honest, 
sincere,  juid  able  ;  he  was  a  model  that  all  may 
strive  to  imitate,  but  whom  few  can  equal.  In 
the  terrible  battles  Thich  just  preceded  his 
death  Y\e  had  occasioTi  to  display  the  highest 
qualities  of  a  commander  and  a  soldier.  Yet 
after  escaping  the  stroke  of  death  when  men 
fell  around  him  by  thousands,  he  at  last  met 
his  fate  at  a  moment  of  comparative  quiet  by 
the  ball  of  a  single  rifleman.  He  died  as  a  sol- 
dier w'ould  choose  to  die,  with  truth  in  his 
heart,  and  a  sweet,  tranquil  smile  upon  his 
face.  Alas !  our  great  nation  possesses  few 
such  sons  like  true  John  Sedgwick. 

liike  him  fell,  too,  at  the  very  head  of  their 
corps,  the  white-haired  Mansfield,  after  a  long 
career  of  usefulness,  illustrated  by  his  skill  and 
cool  courage  at  Fort  Brown,  Monterey,  and 
Bucna  Vista ;  John  F.  Reynolds  and  Reno,  both 
in  the  full  vigor  of  manhood  and  intellect,  men 
who  had  proved  their  ability  and  chivalry  in 
many  a  field  in  Mexico  and  in  this  civil  war,  gal- 
lant gentlemen,  of  whom  their  country  had  much 
to  hope,  had  it  pleased  God  to  spare  their  lives. 
Lyon  fell  in  the  prime  of  life,  leading  his  little 
army  against  superior  numbers,  his  brief  career* 
affording  a  brilliant  example  of  patriotism  and 
ability.      The   impetuous    Kearny,    and    such 


brave  genorals  as  Richard.son,  Williiims,  Terrill, 
Stevens,  Weed,  Saunders,  and  Hayes,  lost  tlicir 
lives  while  in  the   midst  of  a  career  of  useful 
ncs.s.     Young  Bayard,  so  like  the  most  renown- 
ed of  his  name,  that   "  knight  above  fear  and 
above  reproach,"  was  cut  off  too  early  for  his 
country.     No  regiments  can  spare  such  gallant, 
devoted,  and  able  commanders  as  Rossell,  Davis, 
Gove,    Simmons,  Bailey,  Putnam,    and   Kings- 
bury— all  of  whom  fell  in   the  thickest  of  the 
combat,  some  of  them  veterans  and  others  j'oung 
in  the  service — all  good  men  and  well -beloved. 
Our  batteries. have  partially  paid  their  ten-ible 
debt  to  fate  in  the  loss  of  such  commanders  as 
Greble,   (the  first  to  fall  in  this  war,)  Benson, 
Hazz;ird,   Smead,   De   Hart,  Hazlett,  and  those 
gallant  boys,   Kirby,  Woodruff,  Dimmick,  and 
Gushing;  while  the  engineers  lament  the  pro- 
mising and  gallant  Wagner  and  Cross.     Beneath 
remote  battle-fields  rest  the  corses  of  the  heroic 
McRae,  Reed,  Bascom,  Stone,  Sweet,  and  many 
other   company   ofiicers.     Besides    these  were 
hosts  of  veteran  sergeants,  corporals,  and  pri- 
vates who  bad  fought  under  S^ott  in  Mexico, 
or    contended     in    many    combats    with    the 
savages   of   the   far  West   and   Florida  ;    and 
mingled  with  them  young  soldiers  who,  cour- 
.•igeous,  steady,  and  true,  met  death  unflinch- 
ingly  without    the    hope   of    personal    glory. 
These  men,    in    their  more    humble   spheres, 
served  their  country  with  as  much  faith  and 
honor  as  the  most  illustrious  generals,  and  all 
of  them  with  perfect  singleness  of  heart.     Al- 
though their  names  may  not  live   in  history, 
their  actions,   loyalty,    and   courage  will  live. 
Their    memories   will    long   be    preserved    in 
their  regiments,  for  there  were  many  of  them 
who  merited  as  proud  a  distinction  as  that  ac- 
corded to  "  the  first  grenadier  of  France,"  or  to 
that  other  Russian  soldier  who  gave  his  life  for 
his  comrades.      But  there  is   another  class  of 
men  who  have  gone  from   us  since  this  war 
commenced,   whose  fate  it  was  not  to  die  in 
battle,  but  who  are  none  the  less  entitled  to  be 
mentioned  here.     There  was  Sumner,  a  brave, 
honest,  chivalrous  veteran,  of  more  than  half  a 
century's  service,    who  had  confronted   death 
unflinchingly   on  scores    of    battle-fields,    had 
shown   his   gray   head,    serene    and    cheerful, 
where  death  most  revelled,  who  more  than  once 
told  me  that   he  believed  and  hoped  that  his 
long  career  would  end  amid  the  din  of  battle. 
He  died  at  home  from  the  efi'ects  of  the  hard- 
ships of  his  campaign.s.     That  most  excellent 
soldier,  the  elegant  C.  F.  Smith,  whom  many  of 
us   remember  to  have  seen  so  often    on   this 
plain,   with    his   superb   bearing,    escaped  the 
bullet  to  fall  a  victim   to   the   disease   which 
has  deprived  the  army  of  so  many  of  its  best 
soldiers.      John    Buford,    cool    and    intrepid ; 
Mitchel,  eminent  in  science,  Plummer,  Palmer, 
and  many  other  officers   and   men,  lost  their 
lives  by  sickness  contracted  on  the  field.     But 
I  cannot  close  this  long  list  of  glorious  martyrs 
without  paying  a  sacred   debt  of  official  duty 
and  personal  friendship.     There  is  one  dead  sol- 


dier  who  possessed  peculiar  claims  upon  my 
love  and  gratitude;  he  was  an  ardent  patriot, 
an  unselfish  man,  a  true  soldier,  the  beau-ideal 
of  a  staff  officer  —  he  was  my  aide-de-camp, 
Colonel  Colburn.  There  is  a  lesson  to  be  drawn 
from  the  death  and  services  of  these  glorious 
men,  which  we  should  read  for  the  present  and 
future  benefit  of  the  nation. 

War  in  these  modern  days  is  a  science,  and  it 
should  now  be  clear  to  the  most  prejudiced  that, 
for  the  organization  and  command  of  armies,  and 
the  high  combinutions  of  strategy,  perfect  famil- 
iarity with  the  theoretical  science  of  war  is  re- 
quisite. To  count  upon  success  M'hen  the  plans 
or  execution  of  campaigns  are  intrusted  to  men 
who  have  no  knowledge  of  war,  is  as  idle  as  to 
expect  the  legal  wisdom  of  a  Story  or  a  Kent  from 
a  skilful  physician. 

THE    CAUSE    FOR    WHICH    WE    FIGHT. 

But  what  is  the  honorable  and  holy  cause 
for  which  these  men  laid  down  tlieir  lives, 
and  for  which  the  nation  still  demands  the  sac- 
rifice of  the  precious  blood  of  so  many  of  her 
children  ? 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Eevolutionary 
War,  it  was  found  that  the  confederacy  which 
had  grown  up  during  tliatmemorablecontest  was 
fast  falling  to  pieces  from  its  own  weight.  The 
central  power  was  too  weak.  It  could  only  recom- 
mend to  the  different  States  such  measures  as 
seemed  best,  and  it  possessed  no  real  power  to 
legislate,  because  it  lacked  the  executive  force 
to  compel  obedience  to  its  laws.  The  national 
credit  and  self-respect  had  disappeared,  and  it 
was  feared  by  the  friends  of  human  liberty 
throughout  the  world  that  ours  was  but  an- 
other added  to  the  long  list  of  fruitless  at- 
tempts at  self-government.  The  nation  was 
evidently  upon  the  brink  of  ruin  and  dissolution, 
when,  some  eighty  years  ago,  many  of  the 
wisest  and  most  patriotic  of  the  land  met  to 
seek  a  remedy  for  the  great  evils  which  threat- 
ened to  destroy  the  great  work  of  the  revolu- 
tion. Their  sessions  were  long  and  often 
stormy  ;  for  a  time  the  most  sanguine  doubted 
the  possibility  of  a  successful  termination  to 
their  labors.  But  from  amidst  the  conflict  of 
sectional  interests,  of  party  prejudices,  and  of 
personal  selfishness,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and 
conciliation  at  length  evoked  the  Constitu- 
tion under  which  we  have  lived  so  long.  It 
was  not  formed  in  a  day,  but  was  the  result  of 
patient  labor,  of  lofty  wisdom,  and  of  the 
purest  patriotism.  It  was  at  last  adopted  by 
the  people  of  all  the  States — although  by  some 
reluctantly — not  as  being  exactly  what  all  de- 
sired, but  as  being  the  best  possible  under  the 
circumstances. 

It  was  accepted  as  giving  us  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment under  which  the  nation  might  live 
happily  and  prosper,  so  long  as  the  people 
should  continue  to  be  influenced  by  the  same 
sentiments  which  actuated  those  who  formed 
it ;  and  which  would  not  be  liable  to  destruc- 
tion from  internal  causes,  so  long  as  the  people 


]>reserved  the  recollection  of  the  miseries  and 
calamities  which  led  to  its  adoption.     Under 
this  beneficent  Constitution  the  progress  of  the 
nation  was  unexampled  in  history.     The  rights 
and  liberties  of  its  citizens  were  secured  at  homi' 
and  abroad  ;  vast  territories  were  rescued  from 
the  control  of  the  savage  and  the  wild  beast, 
and  added  to  the  domain  of  civilization  and  the 
Union.       The    arts,    the    sciences,    and    com- 
merce grew  apace  ;  our  flag  floated  upon  every 
sea,  and  we  took  our  place   among  the  gi'cat 
nations  of  the  earth.     But  under  this  smooth 
surface  of  prosperity   upon   which   we   glided 
swiftly,  with   all  sails  set  before  the   sunnner 
breeze,    dangerous    reefs   were    hidden    which 
now  and  then  caused  ripples  upon  the  surface, 
and   made   anxious  the  more   cautious   pilots. 
Elated  by  success,  the  ship  swept  on — the  crew 
not  heeding  the  warnings  they  received,  forget- 
ful of  the  dangers  escaped  in  the  beginning  of 
the  voyage,  and  blind  to  the  hideous  maelstrom 
which  gaped  to  receive  and  destroy  them.     The 
same  elements  of  discord   and  sectional  preju- 
dices, interests,  and  institutions  which  had  ren- 
dered the  formation  of  the  Constitution  so  diffi- 
cult, threatened  more  than  once  to  destroy  it. 
But  for  a  long  time  the  nation  was  so  fortunate 
as  to'  possess  a  series  of  political  leaders,  who  to 
the  highest  abilities,  united  the  same  spirit  of 
conciliation  which  animated  the  founders  of  the 
republic,  and  thus  for  many  years  the  threat- 
ened evils  were  averted.     Time,  and  long-con- 
tinued good  fortune,  obliterated  the  recollection 
of  the  calamities  and  wretchedness  of  the  years 
preceding   the   adoption    of    the   Constitution. 
Men  forgot  that  conciliation,  common  interest, 
and   mutual  charity  had  been  the  foundation, 
and  must  be  the  support  of  our   government, 
as  is  indeed  the  case  with  all  governments  and 
all   the   relations  of  life.     At  length,  men  ap- 
peared with  whom  sectional  and  personal  preju- 
dices  and   interests  outweighed  all   considera- 
tions for  the  general  good.     Extremists  of  one 
section  furnished  the  occasion,  eagerly   seized 
as  a  pretext   by  equally  extreme  men  in  the 
other,  for  abandoning  the  pacific  remedies  and 
protection    afforded   by  the  Constitution,    and 
seeking  redress  for  "possible  future  evils  in  war 
and  the  destruction  of  the  Union. 

Stripped  of  all  sophistry  and  side-issues,  the 
direct  cause  of  the  war  as  it  presented  itself  to 
the  honest  and  patriotic  citizens  of  the  North 
was  simply  this:  Certain  States,  or  rather,  a 
portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  certain  States, 
feared,  or  professed  to  fear,  that  injury  would 
result  to  their  rights  and  property  from  the 
elevation  of  a  particular  party  to  power. 
Although  the  Constitution  and  the  actual 
condition  of  the  government  provided  them 
with  a  peaceable  and  sure  protection  against 
the  apprehended  evil,  they  preferred  to  seek 
security  in  the  destruction  of  the  govern- 
ment which  could  protect  them,  and  in  the 
use  of  force  against  the  national  troops  holding 
a  national  fortress.  To  efface  the  insult  offered 
our  flag;   to  save  ourselves  fi'om  the  fate  of 


8 


the  divided  republics  of  Ttily  and  South-Amer- 
ica ;  to  preserve  our  f!;overninent  from  destruc- 
tion ;  to  enforce  its  just  power  and  laws  ;  to 
maintain  our  very  existence  as  a  nation — these 
were  the  causes  which  impelled  us  to  draw  tlie 
sword.  Rebellion  against  a  government  like 
ours,  which  contains  the  means  of  self-adjust- 
ment and  a  pacific  remedy  for  evils,  should 
never  be  confounded  with  a  revolution  against 
despotic  ]iower,  which  refuses  redress  of 
wrongs.  Such  a  rebellion  cannot  be  justified 
upon  ethical  grounds,  and  the  only  alternative 
for  our  choice  is  its  suppression  or  the  de- 
struction of  our  nationality. 

CONCLUSION. 

At  such  a  time  as  this,  and  in  such  a  strug- 
gle, political  partisanship  should  be  merged  in 
a  true  and  brave  patriotism,  which  thinks  only 
of  the  good  of  the  whole  country.  It  was  in 
this  cause,  and  with  these  motives,  that  so 
many  of  our  comrades  gave  their  lives,  and 
to  this  we  are  all  personally  pledged  in  all 
honor  and  fidelity.  Shall  such  devotion 
as  that  of  our  dead  -comrades  be  of  no  avail  ? 
Shall  it  be  said  in  after-ages  that  we  lacked  the 
vigor  to  complete  the  work  thus  begun  ?  That 
after  all  these  noble  lives  freely  given,  we  hesi- 
tated and  failed  to  keep  straight  on  until  our 
land  was  saved  ?  Forbid  it,  Pleaven,  and  give 
us  firmer,  truer  hearts  than  that! 

0  spirits  of  the  valiant  dead !  souls  of  our 
slain  heroes,  lend  us  your  own  indomitable  will, 
and  if  it  be  permitted  you  to  commune  with 
those  still  chained  by  tlie  trammels  of  mortal- 
itv,  hover  around  us  in  the  midst  of  danger  and 
tril)ulation — cheer  the  firm,  strengthen  the 
weak,  that  none  may  doubt  the  salvation  of 
the  Republic  and  the  triumph  of  our  grand  old 
Flag. 


In  the  midst  of  the  storms  which  toss  our 
ship  of  state,  there  is  one  great  beacon  light  to 
which  we  can  ever  turn  with  confidence  and 
hope.  It  cannot  be  that  this  great  nation  has 
played  its  part  in  history ;  it  cannot  be  that 
our  sun,  which  aro.se  with  such  bright  prom- 
ises for  the  future,  has  already  set  for  ever.  It 
must  be  the  intention  of  the  overruling  Deity 
that  this  land,  so  long  the  asylum  of  the  op 
pressed,  the  refuge  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
shall  again  stand  forth  in  bright  relief,  united, 
purified,  and  chastened  by  our  trials,  as  an  ex- 
ample and  encouragement  for  those  who  desire 
the  progress  of  the  human  race.  It  is  not 
given  to  our  weak  intellects  to  understand  the 
steps  of  Providence  as  they  occur ;  we  com- 
prehend them  only  as  we  look  back  upon  them 
in  the  far  distant  past ;  so  is  it  now.  We  can- 
not unravel  the  seemingly  tangled  skein  of  the 
purposes  of  the  Creator — they  are  too  high  and 
far-reaching  for  our  limited  minds.  But  all 
history  and  his  own  revealed  words  teach  us 
that  his  ways,  although  inscrutable,  are  ever 
7'ighteous.  Let  us,  then,  honestly  and  man- 
fully play  our  parts,  seek  to  understand  and 
perform  our  whole  duty,  and  trust  unwaveringly 
in  the  beneficence  of  God  who  led  our  ancestors 
across  the  sea,  and  sustained  them  afterward 
amid  dangers  more  appalling  even  than  those 
encountered  by  his  own  chosen  people  in  their 
great  exodus. 

He  did  not  bring  us  here  in  vain,  nor  has  he 
supported  us  thus  far  for  naught. 

If  we  do  our  duty  and  trust  in  him,  he  will 
not  desert  us  in  our  need.  Firm  in  our  faith 
that  (Tod  will  save  our  country,  we  now  dedi- 
cate this  site  to  the  memory  of  brave  men,  to 
lojralty,  patriotism,  and  honor.  ^ioud  ap- 
plause.) 


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